Ulpan Fun Day

Yisrael is finally happy in both school and ulpan – I am so thankful! His ulpan took us on a park outing Tuesday morning that was a lot of fun.

We were greeted by seven teenage camp counselors who did a terrific job entertaining and teaching the eight ulpan kids. They played playground type of games, using only Hebrew and the kids really got into it.

The yeladim (children) searched for pine cones to feed a campfire.

Then they made pita dough (without washing hands first – things are different here!)

Yisrael couldn’t stay away from the fire (no surprise!) and kept bringing more pine cones to keep it going.

The pita was cooked on the campfire with a metal dome over it.

The children retreived their hot pita from the fire by stretching out their shirts in front of them as the counselors tossed the pita to them – no plates or napkins here! Then Morah Rachel smeared chocolate spread on top for them.

And the kids took them in their hands (it was amusing to hear how many of them asked for paper plates and napkins – their parents should be proud) and enjoyed their treat.

Fortunately I had tissues and wet wipes in my backpack, it took the whole pack to get the gang cleaned up. Surprisingly these kids actually asked for help getting their hands clean, but there was no running water or paper towels available.

The counselors then demonstrated the old-fashioned method of making-tea-on-the-fire which amazed most of the kids. Especially Yisrael who was so attracted by the fire (he can’t help it, it runs in the family – dad, both grandfathers, etc.)

They made the tea very sweet, which really appealed to the kids who sipped it while bouncing up and down on the see-saws.

Certainly not the type of outing I would have planned – much better (which is why I work with words and not kids!) – it turned out to be fun and relaxing and gave me an opportunity to have a one-on-one meeting with his teacher who says he’s blossoming nicely.:D

An added treat was a new view of Ma’aleh Adumim – not only do we have palms, we have trees with fragrant pine needles! Oh how I love this place!